


rather than glue

by raven_aorla



Category: Les Triplettes de Belleville | The Triplets of Belleville (2003)
Genre: Addiction recovery, Families of Choice, Gen, One-Shot, Post canon, Trauma Recovery, canon character death, forced drug use mention, neurodivergent Champion headcanon, pun only a little bit intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-10
Updated: 2014-07-10
Packaged: 2018-02-08 08:14:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1933536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/raven_aorla/pseuds/raven_aorla
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After being freed by perhaps the most unlikely saviors possible, a former Tour de France cyclist reflects.</p>
            </blockquote>





	rather than glue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [CampionSayn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CampionSayn/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Now We Won't Be Scarred](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1181367) by [CampionSayn](https://archiveofourown.org/users/CampionSayn/pseuds/CampionSayn). 



> Not my characters. Here's to making the tiny fandom slightly less tiny!

He doesn't understand how Champion can bear to touch and tinker with bicycles all day.

Not that he's not grateful, as it was Champion returning to work for his grandmother's friend, who drove the actual first aid truck that fateful race, which allowed his fellow survivor to find work for the same man. Thankfully it was his profession as a nurse and not his former avocation of cycling that was in need. The Tour de France isn't the only race where athletes (and the occasional unlucky bystander) might need emergency medical assistance. 

It's also probably best that the boy's so addicted to every aspect of cycling, to the exclusion of anything else. Champion recovered from the constant sequences of doping, then sedation, that they'd been subjected to with placid resilience. The older man was not so lucky, even with a greater understanding of his own withdrawal symptoms.

The three biddies were unexpected help. Apparently vaudeville stars, like all others in show business, saw plenty of drug abuse, and living to such a feisty old age means they know how to survive pretty much anything. Fortunately Madame Souza convinced them that both her grandson and "his new friend" needed to eat something other than frogs. 

The old ladies managed to scrape up the funds to transport all of them away from Belleville. The reason they'd mounted a private rescue in the first place was that the corrupt Belleville police would have helped the crime syndicate rather than stopped them. Now the triplets were under suspicion of arson, manslaughter, and disturbance of the peace, and Madame Souza had entered Belleville illegally besides. As they could not be extradited from France to Belleville, it made sense for all of them to resume lives in Paris.

Less than a month in Paris again, Madame Souza is letting him stay in the tiny room next to Champion's until he can save up for his own place. He'd had no one to miss him other than his former employers, and they had comforted themselves regarding his disappearance by replacing him within four days. He suspects the room might have been storage space for brooms and other household cleaning items once, but he is glad of shelter, and he can leave it any time he wants.

Champion isn't interested in training for any more races, though when he has time off and the weather is good he cycles through the streets to enjoy some sunshine. Tonight his grandmother left them dinner on the stove and a note saying she is practicing with the triplets for a show. Apparently their exploits have gathered some attention from the papers and they're not wanting for gigs. In their first fortnight Madame Souza made enough from her share alone to pacify some paddleboat merchant who was slipping angry letters under the door. 

If they get any more famous someone will make a film about it, he suggests, taking a sip of his wine. Champion is drinking mineral water, having developed an aversion to wine rather than to cycling. 

The dog puts its head in Champion's lap and its master obligingly pets it. Silent as usual, he does nod his head slightly and gives a suggestion of a smile to indicate that he heard. 

Keep eating, your grandmother says you're too thin now, he says. He says this to Champion at every meal without Madame Souza present. He doesn't have many other ways to repay her. He wonders, sometimes, whether he or Champion would have fallen like an exhausted racehorse first. He wonders if the one who actually did, so close and yet so far to freedom, even registered anything but a loud noise. It took him a long time after escaping to register that he himself had lived, even longer that he was a man.

Champion obediently chews another mouthful, scratching behind Bruno's ears. The dog has already been fed so this is affection and not begging. They are equally wordless but appear equally content.

He asked Madame Souza once, after most of the haze cleared and he remembered how to stand and walk and eat on his own but saw how Champion still needed prompting to do all these things, whether her grandson was quite...right. If he'd always been in his own world to that degree.

He's everything he needs to be, she said. At least it was firm and not angry. It would be terrible if a perceived insult to Champion - of whom he has grown rather fond - lead to his rejection from the circle. He's more whole now than he was, but these odd people have put him back together with that same intangible force that welds them to one another. 

Do you...do you dream of him, sometimes? I didn't see it but I heard it, I heard the gun. (He knows he doesn't need to elaborate.)

Champion considers, nods. And says, Beasts are made into glue.

He comments, somewhat inanely, that this is very sad.

Champion says, I told you she was coming. Then he stands to clear the table, and holds a hand out for the other plate.


End file.
